Accidental Adult
by LotusKid
Summary: Dawn is raped; Spike comes to her rescue.


Accidental Adult

LotusKid

Chapter 1

: Dawn's Diary:

I am so excited. I mean, _finally_ I get to go out, unsupervised. I have been waiting for so long, trying to prove that I am old enough, mature enough…and now it's happened! Major breakthrough. 

They've been letting me do stuff more and more…I guess now that the whole deal with the Key is over they decided that if I was strong enough to deal with my mom dying and…Buffy…I can take this. I guess Willow and Tara are more liberal anyway. 

On second thought, maybe I am not as excited as I could be. Or as excited as I wish I were. It's just that Buffy is gone, really gone…I miss her so much…but maybe it will be good. Yes, it will be good to get out, "stretch my wings", and my legs…I am getting to be a great dancer. Who knew that watching Buffy prep and practice would lend itself to learning how to dance? She was a good one. Dancer, I mean. She didn't let it show too much, she was always too busy, but she could definitely move. 

Well, I am going to the Bronze to meet Lindsay and the gang soon, so I better go get ready. She was so psyched when I told her! We went shopping Friday night to get me something hot to wear tonight; I ended up with a blue tube top and black velvet Chinos. And stiletto heels, of course. Okay, now I am really excited. Write about how it went when I get home!

************

Dawn took one last look in the mirror, finally satisfied. She smiled at her reflection- her eyes were lined with black and shadowed in a sparkly blue that matched her shirt. Her skin was flawless, tinted a coral pink in all the right places. Her lips were perfect; just the ride coral shade to look sweet, but glossy and full to give her a very mature, slightly seductive look. Dawn swept her silky, waist-length hair out of her way and left her room. 

"Willow? I'm leaving! I'll be home by 11:00!" Dawn shouted into the kitchen. She was in a hurry to leave; she wanted plenty of uninterrupted time to show her friends just how well she could dance. Willow came out of the kitchen yawning. She had had a long week, and taking care of a teenager and a girlfriend was not easy. Recovering herself, she full took in the sight of Dawn before her. Wearing a slightly impressed and taken aback look, she praised Dawn's new style. 

"Dawnie! Wow! You look great! So…grown-up! Wow!" Dawn smiled. That was exactly what she had been aiming for. 

"I'll be back by eleven. I promise. You don't have to stay up for me; I know you had exams this week, if you want to go to bed I'll be alright," Dawn said calmly, trying to hide her excitement at being allowed out until 11:00 at night, alone. Seeing the look of uncertainty on Willow's tired face, Dawn continued, "Really, I will be okay. I have money with me to use a pay phone if something goes wrong, I will be careful of anything I drink and I won't talk to strangers. It's only a few blocks away. I will be fine. Go to sleep, you need rest." Willow wondered vaguely if she really looked that tired, but did not argue. 

"Okay. Have a good time. I'll see you tomorrow…if I can wake up by then," she gave in, smiling sheepishly. Dawn gave her a quick hug and took her coat. 

"See you later! Goodnight!" With that, she stepped into the night. Though the Bronze was only a few blocks away, to walk there using the streets was long and mostly uphill; Dawn preferred the shortcut through several backyards and a short expanse of woods. Thinking of just how she should make her grand entrance as the newly improved, finally mature Dawn, she found the shortcut and started to follow it. 

************

Ten minutes later, Dawn had entered the small stretch of woods that would cut her travel time in half. 'God, it's creepy in here,' Dawn thought. The trees all seemed to be pine or cedar; large, imposing and all swaying with the breezes far above her head. There was always a certain uneasiness to be felt in the woods, especially the ones that came right behind the cemetery, but at the same time Dawn had been here so often that she would normally get through without being too scared. 

Walking on and thinking of her entrance, (she had opted to walk in with casual grace and to speak in a cool, seductive manner) Dawn heard a small rustling near her and looked over her shoulder. She couldn't see anyone there and assumed it must have been an animal. She kept walking, now thinking of what to say when they asked her where she learned to dance that well. ('Instinct!' she thought. That's a perfect reply.) Again she heard the noise, this time a bit closer, and a bit louder. 

Dawn turned around, mildly alarmed. 'What was that? Where is it coming from?' she asked herself. Walking on, this time more determined and much more afraid, Dawn stopped thinking about the impression she would make to focus her attentions on the continued noises behind her. The crack of a twig, the groan of the trees, the crunching pinecones and dried needles; she walked faster, swallowing hard. The sounds were getting closer as she continued to walk faster and faster, hearing her heart thump in her chest and her throat close with fear. Finally Dawn decided that walking fast was not an option. Her sister had been the Slayer; she was not going to just run away. Turning, she stood searching the area with her eyes and clutching her coat to her body. 

"Who…who's there?" Dawn called, summoning all her strength. "Who is there?" she asked, more firmly this time. "I'm warning you…what do you want? Who…" her words were cut off by a cold and clammy hand around her mouth. She tried to scream through it, tried to struggle out of its grasp, but to no avail. Dawn was spun violently around by her captor; there stood someone Dawn had seen before. 'I know him!' her brain thought feverishly, still struggling to get free. Then it clicked. He was a senior at her high school. She had seen him at a few school dances, had flirted with him, had even danced with him. He had been kind and funny then, really sweet and interesting to talk with. But now he had a look on his face that was unreadable- something that looked to Dawn to be the need for power, something that can't be described.

She continued to fight him, but he grabbed her hands. Viciously he dragged her to the ground, kicking her legs out from under her and making her fall hard. With Dawn face down, struggling to scream, he took a piece of cloth that was filthy from car oil and gagged her with it. Dawn moved her head up and down, beating it against the ground in an attempt to help herself flip over and fight her attacker off, but she could not. He straddled her and she screamed into the cloth as he put all his weight on her spine. Still holding her hands, he bound them with twine, pulling it so tight it cut into Dawn's flesh. Her wrists bleeding as she choked, Dawn whimpered as he got off her and flipped her over roughly. 

"Shut UP, bitch! SHUT UP! I'll give you something to cry about. Watch me! Look at me, bitch!" her attacker spat at her ferociously, grabbing her face and forcing her to look at him. "I'm gonna stick you so hard you'll bleed for years! I'm gonna thrust into you so hard that your guts turn inside out. You want that? Hmm? Bet you can't. You want it, don't you?" He growled, his face just an inch from hers. Dawn could smell his rank breath hanging in that small space between them, his hand on her jaw forcing her head down into the pine needles and sticks on the ground. She shook her head violently, and struggled harder to get free, to kick him out of her way. 

"Don't you struggle, bitch! Stop! Stop moving!" When she didn't stop, he punched her hard in the face, smashing her nose and bruising her cheekbone. Dawn screamed into the gag, crying, wanting someone to come help her. 'Why isn't anyone coming to help me? Where is Buffy?' she thought, remembering that her sister was dead. Crying harder, she slowly stopped struggling. 

Her captor instead began to rip off her clothes. Grabbing her shirt collar, he pulled hard. Dawn heard the sound of tearing fabric and soon he was grappling with her bra. Though she couldn't tell what he was saying, Dawn could hear him muttering things and moaning on top of her. She closed her eyes hard and willed herself out of her body, wanting to be far away; at home with Willow and Tara, watching TV with Xander and Anya. She wanted to be dusting books in the Magic Box with Giles, hearing Spike tell her a story of his violent past; anywhere but where she was now. She cried harder still as her attacker unbuttoned her new pants and forced them down around her ankles. He did the same with her panties, and she felt his hands sneak up on her thighs, forcing her legs to open and let him in. 

He entered her and she screamed. It felt like was being torn into two pieces, ripped from between her legs through her entire body. Again she tried to struggle, to scream, getting only a vicious slap across the face from the man pinning her down to the ground. As he began to thrust, she felt as though her organs were indeed being turned inside out; everything was on fire inside her. The oil and gasoline on the cloth in her mouth were beginning to make her feel dizzy, and Dawn could struggle no more. As he pounded into her, harder and harder, she slowly began to give in; as he came Dawn fell into unconsciousness and knew no more.

Chapter 2

When Dawn returned to consciousness it was still dark. One of her eyes was so badly beaten that it had swelled shut; painfully she opened her other eye and stared up at the treetops above her. 'Where am I? Why am I so cold?' The memory of what had happened came rolling back over her and Dawn could feel her eyes begin to well up; the tears that rolled down her cheeks stung sharply, and Dawn willed herself to stop crying. 

Trying to sit up, she realized her captor was nowhere to be seen. She was still bound and gagged, her clothes still lying about where he had tossed them. Dawn swallowed hard and realized what had actually happened. 'I need to get out of here. Where do I go? What do I do? Buffy, where are you?' Dawn could barely hold her tears in, and only by sheer determination was she able to get back onto her feet. 

Still wearing her heels, Dawn felt her left ankle snap as she struggled to regain her balance. Now on her knees, Dawn remembered that she was nearly naked. Somehow she found her coat and managed to tie it around her waist, hiding her female parts. Her breasts were still uncovered, but she couldn't untie her hands nor did she have any way to cover them. She pulled her feet behind her and worked off her shoes, leaving them on the ground with her torn shirt and getting up once more. 

Her ankle burned with pain, the pants and underwear around her legs making it difficult to even limp. But Dawn was determined to get out of the woods and to find help. Blindly she began to walk forward; tripping over fallen branches and getting numerous cuts and scrapes from the sticks and pinecones beneath her feet. Eyes tearing up with pain, Dawn stumbled on, slowly, laboriously, but determinedly. 

After what seemed like hours, the trees began to thin and she stepped into the cemetery. Panting from exertion and from the intense pain in her body, Dawn struggled forward still. Tripping over a headstone and stubbing her toe, she moaned into the cloth still in her mouth. She leaned on it for a minute, using the granite as a support, trying to regain the strength to walk forward. 

Again Dawn moved forward, barely having the strength to take steps. One, two, 'come one' she told herself. Three…. Four… five… when Dawn finally reached ten, she had gotten nearly to the middle of the cemetery. Collapsing, Dawn fell to her knees. Breathing heavily and trying to control the pounding in her head, she inhaled and exhaled; 'breathe. Keep breathing. Focus.' 

Out of the darkness behind her a figure stepped. A tall man in a long, black leather coat with bleached blonde hair came striding forward. Seeing a prone, nearly naked figure on the ground, he decided to go see what was up. Walking cautiously to the figure, he stared at it. 

"Who are you and what are you doing in my cemetery?" He asked coldly. When no reply came, he nudged the figure with his boot. Dawn, who had still been leaning over the headstone, fell to her side in a dead faint. 

Spike jumped back and blinked. 'Why does this girl look so familiar?' he asked himself. Looking through the black eye, bruises and cuts he realized that it was Dawn. "DAWN!!! Dawn, what happened?" Spike immediately rushed forward to the girl, trying to pull her into a sitting position. "Dawn? Nibblet?" he said weakly, seeing that she was unconscious. "What did they do to you?" He asked quietly. Shaking his head, he looked to the horizon. The sun would be up in only a few minutes; not good for a vampire. He stood, lifting Dawn as though she weighed nothing at all, and strode away, back to his crypt. 

************

When Dawn came to, she found herself laid out on a couch. She moved a bit and discovered she was under a blanket. But where? Who had covered her? Dawn thought hard about what had happened. She had been…violated. And she had tried to get out of the woods. She ended up in the cemetery, and from there…where?

"Dawn, pet, you awake?" A deep voice asked softly, from somewhere around her head. 'I know that voice.' Dawn thought. 

"Spike?" she croaked out hoarsely, trying to sit up. Her body screamed in protest, every move provoking agony. Cracking her un-bruised eye open, Dawn turned her head to look at the blonde vampire who was kneeling next to the couch, watching her. 

"Shhh, luv, here, drink this," Spike helped her swallow a mouthful or two of water. 

"Where am I?" Dawn asked, her throat clearer. "You're on the couch, in my crypt, in the cemetery, in Sunnydale. That cover everything?" his words were sarcastic but his voice was calm and soothing. 

Dawn swallowed. "What- what happened?" Spike looked sadly at her. "I was hoping you could tell me that. I found you in the cemetery, nearly naked and half-frozen. Real mess you look, luv," he said, sighing, brushing her hair out of her face. 

Wincing, Dawn sat up, clutching the blanket to her chest. "Nearly naked? You saw me nearly naked?" Blushing furiously Dawn tried to curl up on the couch as she realized that her attacker had ripped off most of her clothes and she was only able to save herself a small piece of her dignity. 

"Come off it, Nibblet. Now, tell me what happened," Spike spoke firmly but gently. Dawn didn't reply. Spike sighed and sat next to Dawn, who was still holding the blanket up around herself. Cautiously, Spike put his arm around her. She was a complete mess; her silky hair was tangled and knotted with pine needles sticking out of it. Her face was covered in cuts and bruises; her right eye swollen shut. Spike had had quite a time trying to cut off the twine on her wrists without cutting Dawn. Her breasts had been scratched and cut as well, and though Spike had not looked so as not to embarrass her, he thought in his head that Dawn might have been injured under the coat she had tied around her waist as well. 

Dawn leaned into the strong, cool feel of the muscular arm behind her shoulders. Swallowing hard, she began to explain. "I-I was going to the Bronze. To meet my friends. Willow let me go alone this time." Inwardly, Spike seethed at this, but truly he couldn't blame the witch for letting Dawn go. "I took the shortcut. I was walking in the woods. Then this guy-some senior from school-he came out of nowhere…he grabbed me, he gagged me…he-he-tied my-my h-hands…" Dawn started to choke up, tears rolling down her face and stinging her wounds. Spike's heart melted for the girl. Pulling her toward him, she pressed her face into his chest and cried. Her tears warmed his cold skin, and for a moment he felt like crying with her, sobbing for her pain. 

"Spike…he…he…he raped me." Somehow, finally saying this out loud made the seriousness of it real to Dawn. She sobbed, her entire body shaking as tears soaked Spike's shirt. He embraced her, crying with her but not letting her see. Whispering sweet comforting words into her hair, he rocked Dawn gently, small tears falling into her hair as he promised help and protection. 

Dawn cried until she couldn't cry any more. With that, she fell asleep in Spike's arms, her head resting in the space between his shoulder and neck. Spike could feel her heart rate return to a slow, steady beating and her breathing deepen, signaling her slumber. Spike sighed, inhaling deeply although unnecessarily, and sat, still rocking Dawn gently. He didn't want to move her; the pain movement caused would surely wake her. He let her sleep on him, her heartbeat on his chest comforting, her body heat warming his cool skin. He sighed again and began to make plans for what to do next. Why Dawn? Why? This young teenage girl, his friend, nearly his little sister, forced to endure such things; and he hadn't been there to stop it. 

Spike's jaw set firmly. He was determined to kill whoever did this to his Dawn. _I will kill him. I will find him and kill him. I will kill the one who made this girl grow up this fast_. 


End file.
